With a few days until the fortieth anniversary of the coup d'etat that put an end to the government of Salvador Allende, there are many media outlets which, using collective memory and unpublished archive footage, attempt to remind and instruct new generations about the human rights violations that occurred during the military government of Augusto Pinochet through reports and documentaries. These have not been free from controversy.

Already in its debut, the program “Chile, The Prohibited Images” [es] (“Chile, las imágenes prohibidas” in Spanish), broadcast by the television station Chilevisión, showed through high audience numbers that many Chileans are interested in revisiting and understanding what occurred between the September 11, 1973 coup and the plebiscite that returned Chile to democracy in the end of the 1980s. However, the opinions generated by the audience have been varied, as much in favor as opposed.

The complaints against the program stated that it generated “hatred and division in the country,” because it delivers, according to 40 of the claims, “a biased view of history” [es]. This argument was ultimately dismissed given the liberty of expression to which every citizen is entitled.

This idea was discussed in the blog El huevo revuelto [es] (The Scrambled Egg) on August 29, when columnist Marcel Castro (@marcelocastrob) [es], taking the flag of the opponents of the program, referred to the complaints before the CNTV:

But not everything is rose-colored, or red, for them who have already accumulated more than 80 complaints before the National Television Counsel. Just one episode on August 14 had 62 complaints, 40 of them because “the program presents a biased view of history,” something that is true because it shows what suits the Bolsheviks, and another 22 complaints for “provoking hatred and division in the country.” These last remain valid even though the other 40 were dismissed due to the film makers’ freedom to show what they want to.

Reaffirming the biased-view argument, Natalia Ramos Briones (@nataliaramosb) [es] commented on her Twitter account that this is the result of confusion between the view of the writer and journalistic thoroughness:

Don't confuse the view of the writer with journalistic thoroughness. On the contrary it is an incomplete, biased and ignorant view.

Going along with the view against the television program and alluding to the program's name (“Chile, The Prohibited Images”), various Twitter-users published images that the Chilevisión program had not shown and that, in their opinion, were part of the “other side of the coin.” [“La moneda” refers to both a coin and the Presidential palace in Chile].

Lino González A (@LlinoGozalez) [es] shared through his Twitter account an image shown in the program “The 1000 days” [es] (a program with a similar theme broadcast by Channel 13). The photograph shows opponents of Salvador Allende who protested the scarcity of food and the economic inequality under his government (1970-1973).

“ENOUGH Mr. Allende.” The prohibited images that are not shown on the other channel

In a similar way, the image of two Chilean Carabineros [police officers], in which one checks the vital signs of the other who was injured during protests, was tweeted by the accounts @SeptiembreOnce [es] and Don Corleone (@Don_Corleone_) [es]:

Primero The argument mentioned as the “other side of the coin” would suggest that in the images of repression of the population, the funerals of the victims and the Papal visit, as much as in the testimonies about the death of Vicarage officials and about the incident that ended with Carmen Gloria Quintana and Rodrigo Rojas in flames, correspond to lies because another alleged version (that includes something that happened before 1973) demonstrates that these violent methods were more a justified action.

Second The idea of the “other version” suggests that the 6 million people killed by the dictatorship's intelligence forces were part of a dark plan to return the country to the “Marxist dictatorship.” This idea that is implicit in the criticism of the program I do not discuss or support here, because the elite of the eventual “dictatorship of the proletariat” could not have been that big (nor is today the business elite that strangles the rest of the county that big), and finally because many of these six million people had no connection to the power structures.

Third The words “the other side of the coin” [or presidential palace] inform us that the ridiculous idea that U.S. institutions formed around Marxism and spread amply around Latin America has been accepted. In this way, Chile, The Prohibited Images would attempt to hide this other side of the Marxists presenting themselves as essentially ruthless beings.

Fourth Each time that someone claims to tell “the other version of the facts,” more than abandon the original discussion and ridiculously suppose that there is a master plan formulated by a ridiculous Marxist movement, they propose the leftist way of thinking is homogeneous and that everyone who adheres to these beliefs want to replicate what was done by Stalin in the USSR.

Reactions on the part of those in favor of the program after the announcement of the complaints before the CNTV counsel soon became apparent. This was expressed by Marcelo Gomez (@MarceloGomezG) [es], who said the the complaints seemed to make little sense and then made a simile with another dictatorship:

To denounce CHV for #ImágenesProhibidas is like denouncing National Geographic for its reports about Hitler and WWII.

The Twitter account Difamadores (@Difamadores) [es], which describes itself as a space for “humor, politics and critical journalism focused on society,” did not let the situation pass and related the authors of the complaints to supporters of right-leaning politics:

“Prohibited Images” on Chilevisión accumulated 83 complaings in CNTV http://t.co/mbRIEkNKkW /Incredible, there are people that do not like the truth.

Right or wrong, the complaints against the program suggest that Chile is still divided by an event that marked its history 40 years ago and continues dividing society today. Recognition? Historical memory? Reconciliation? Chilean society is anxious to heal its wounds.